Iowa ranks in top 20 for toxic air releases

A documentary produced by The Weather Channel and The Center for Public Integrity about the concentration of toxic air releases at a small number of facilities in the United States.
The Weather Channel and the Center for Public Integrity

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Iowa ranks among the top 20 states nationally for annual emissions of harmful chemicals and greenhouse gases.(Photo: The Register)Buy Photo

Iowa ranks among the top 20 states nationally for annual emissions of harmful chemicals and greenhouse gases into the air, according to a new analysis of federal air quality data by the Center for Public Integrity.

The state's toxic air emissions from manufacturing, power, chemical and other plants increased 6 percent to 18.7 million pounds from 2010 to 2014, the most recent year for which complete data are available.

That's 1 million more pounds of toxic pollutants released in 2014 than five years earlier. The increase is the eighth-largest nationally, according a Des Moines Register analysis of statewide data compiled by the nonprofit online news organization as part of a nine-month investigation.

To put the Iowa increase in perspective, 35 other states reduced their total toxic emissions from 2010 to 2014, the data show, resulting in an overall 8 percent reduction nationwide.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources, however, says the state's overall air quality has improved, based on more detailed data from facilities and air monitoring devices located across the state.

"Our data shows that, pollutant by pollutant, (emissions) have definitely trended downward over the past five years," said Jason Marcel, an environmental program supervisor at DNR.

The decline is more dramatic over time. For example, the number of counties unable to meet federal air quality standards has dropped from 13 in 1978 to just two last year — Muscatine and Pottawattamie.

Overall, Iowa ranks 17th nationally for its toxic air emissions and 19th for its industrial greenhouse gas emissions, which scientists say contribute directly to global warming.

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The Climax Molybdenum Co., located in Fort Madison, ranks the highest facility in Iowa. The plant, which manufactures chemicals which helps strengthen steel, released nearly 4.4 million pounds of ammonia and other chemicals into the atmosphere in 2014, ranking it No. 10 in the nation.(Photo: Bryon Houlgrave/The Register)

Eric Schaeffer, director of the Environmental Integrity Project, based in Washington, D.C., told The Des Moines Register that EPA has little data on the impact of many chemicals on humans.

"There isn't enough analysis and study of the effect of toxic air pollution," said Schaeffer, who co-founded the environmental watchdog group. "We know quite a bit about lead, but we know almost nothing about other kinds of toxic pollutants.

"That's basically a resource problem," Schaeffer said. "Doing that kind of work takes resources and a long-term commitment."

Some blame illnesses on plant

The center found a relatively small number of power plants, factories and other facilities are responsible for a large portion of the industrial air pollution released over the last five years in the United States. The top 100 such polluters in the nation, including three in Iowa, accounted for one-third of toxic emissions.

The highest-ranked Iowa facility is Climax Molybdenum Co., a Fort Madison plant whose products make steel stronger. It released nearly 4.4 million pounds of ammonia and other chemicals into the atmosphere in 2014. That is the 10th largest total in the nation.

Climax Molybdenum, along with four other Iowa facilities, accounted for nearly halfof the toxic chemicals released in Iowa that year, the Register's analysis shows.

During a public hearing last year on Climax Molybdenum's operating permit, some Fort Madison area residents blamed the plant for maladies such as headaches, migraines, burning eyes and noses, and respiratory problems.

Rick Wybenga said he abandoned a mobile home he owned near the plant a year ago because he believes the emissions made him sick.

Now living six miles from the facility, he says he finally feels healthy again. "Nobody knows exactly what they put out," said Wybenga, who had ongoing struggles with intense headaches, lethargy and confusion.

Compared to its neighbors, Iowa ranks second only to Illinois for the amount of toxins being released, and third behind Illinois and Missouri on industrial greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2014, about 460 Iowa facilities reported pollution releases to EPA's Toxic Inventory Release database. The list includes about 650 chemicals considered hazardous or carcinogenic. The data are designed to inform residents about releases within their communities.

EPA sets emissions standards on many of the chemicals under the federal Clean Air Act. The state DNR is responsible for enforcing those standards, using its permitting process to ensure the safety of residents and the environment around the plants.

Plants say strides being made

Climax Molybdenum, along with two other Iowa facilities included among the nation's Top 100 producers of airborne toxins, say they're in compliance with state and federal standards and are making improvements that should further reduce emissions.

Equistar Chemicals, a Clinton plant that produces a petrochemical used to make plastic resins, is ranked 64th in the country. Spokesman Scott Buchman said the facility has reduced its toxic emissions 40 percent over the past decade. The plant employs about 500 workers and contractors in Iowa.

Buchman said LyondellBaselI, the Houston-based, publicly traded plastics, chemical and refining company that owns Equistar, also has reduced greenhouse gas emissions 10 percent. Those the improvements, in addition to other projects, cost about $97 million.

Grain Processing Corp., a Muscatine-based corn wet mill, is ranked 91st. That company says it has invested $83 million in a new grain dryer house, replacing 11 older operations. A switch from coal to natural gas to generate power also has helped reduce emissions, the company says.

The work is part of a 2014 agreement with the state attorney general's office to settle a lawsuit over several air violations. Grain Processing also was ordered to pay a record $1.5 million civil penalty.

A group of local residents has also filed a class-action civil lawsuit against the company, claiming the plant has harmed their enjoyment of their property and put their health at risk. It's still in litigation.

Janet Sichterman, spokeswoman for Grain Processing, said the company cut the amount of toxic chemicals released last year in half from 2014 levels, according to preliminary data provided to EPA, and greenhouse gas emissions have fallen 60 percent. EPA hasn't yet verified the data, which is expected to be released later this year.

"Muscatine is our home, and cleaner air is a commitment GPC made" to the community, Sichterman said.

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Coal pile and with scrubber rooms in the foreground seen from above the MidAmerican Energy plant at Council Bluffs, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2007.(Photo: Register file photo)

Investing in cleaner air

Climax Molybdenum set up a community hotline to hear residents' complaints, said Eric Kinneberg, a spokesman for Freeport-McMoRan, the Phoenix-based company that owns the Fort Madison plant. The complaints and the results of the company's investigations into them are reported to the state, Kinneberg said. "We share the same goals of achieving and maintaining clean air for all Iowans."

The company also is investing in new technology and equipment that's expected to dramatically cut emissions. Those improvements aren't yet fully operational. The company declined to discuss the amount of that investment.

Iowa DNR documents show that a scrubber being installed is expected to cut ammonia emissions by 90 percent. Ammonia, a colorless gas, has a pungent odor at high concentrations and in lesser amounts can cause eye, nose and throat irritation, the state agency said.

"It can cause significant health effects when people are exposed to it," he said. "But it also can lead to water pollution when it falls back to Earth and gets transformed into nitrogen." Iowa and other states struggle to keep nitrates and other nutrients from fouling water.

Ammonia also reacts with nitrogen oxide, released from cars and other vehicles, to form fine particulate pollution, said Schaeffer, whose group is among nine trying to force EPA to regulate ammonia emissions from animal confinements.

Fine particulate pollution, which EPA regulates, has been linked to premature death in people with lung or heart disease, nonfatal heart attacks, aggravated asthma and other respiratory problems.

People with heart or lung diseases, children and older adults are most likely affected.

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The Climax Molybdenum Co., located in Fort Madison, ranks the highest facility in Iowa. The plant, which manufactures chemicals which helps strengthen steel, released nearly 4.4 million pounds of ammonia and other chemicals into the atmosphere in 2014, ranking it No. 10 in the nation.(Photo: Bryon Houlgrave/The Register)

Greenhouse efforts paying off

Iowa has shown improvement in cutting greenhouse gases. Those emissions from industrial facilities and utility companies declined 11 percent to 54.7 million metric tons from 2010 through 21014, the data show. Those reductions are largely the result of more investment in wind and solar energy, and switching from coal to cleaner-burning natural gas to fuel power generation.

The reduction in greenhouse gases is the eighth-biggest drop in the nation.

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View from the top of the MidAmerican Energy plant at Council Bluffs, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2007.(Photo: Register file photo)

But the utility and industrial emissions represent only about half of the greenhouse gas emissions picture, said Peter Thorne, who leads the University of Iowa's occupational and environmental health department.

Emissions from transportation, agriculture and other activities make up the other half, said Thorne, a professor of toxicology and environmental health.

Altogether, Iowa's greenhouse gas emissions over the same five years declined less than 2 percent to 132.5 million metric tons, an Iowa DNR report shows.

Even most of Iowa's biggest greenhouse gas emitters — including utilities, grain processors and fertilizer plants — have mostly either held the line or reduced emissions, the data show.

Power plants owned by MidAmerican Energy, either solely and with others, are among the state's largest greenhouse gas emitters. One plant, MidAmerican's Walter Scott Jr. Energy Center in Council Bluffs, ranks 46th nationally for its greenhouse gas emissions.

The Des Moines-based utility, owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, said the company has invested in controls on existing coal-fired plants to significantly reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, particulate matter and mercury.

"To the extent it was not cost-effective ... MidAmerican Energy has retired four coal-fueled units and limited a fifth to natural gas operations, which has resulted in additional emission reduction," the company said in a statement.

Alliant Energy, parent of Interstate Power & Light, has made similar improvements.

"By 2025, we'll only have two coal plants in Iowa — Lansing and Ottumwa," said Terry Kouba, Alliant's vice president of generation. "And we're working to make them as clean as we can."

Kouba said electricity generated from retired coal plants will be replaced by the utility's $700 million natural gas-fired plant in Marshalltown, which is slated to come online next year.

MidAmerican and Alliant, along with member-owned electric cooperatives across the state, also are investing in wind and solar energy.

MidAmerican says it has invested $10 billion in wind energy generation since 2014, with a $3.6 billion project announced in April.

Alliant said in July it will invest $1 billion in wind energy, and it's building two solar arrays in Dubuque and another in Cedar Rapids at a nature center.

Last year, coal fueled 53 percent of Iowa energy generation, down from 59 percent in 2014, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Wind was second only to coal as an energy source for electricity generation, the federal agency said. Iowa received 31 percent of its electricity from wind last year, a larger share than any other state.

The Climax Molybdenum Co., located in Fort Madison, ranks the highest facility in Iowa. The plant, which manufactures chemicals which helps strengthen steel, released nearly 4.4 million pounds of ammonia and other chemicals into the atmosphere in 2014, ranking it No. 10 in the nation.(Photo: Bryon Houlgrave/The Register)

New Hampshire: A model for cleaner air?

If Iowa hopes to make further air quality improvements, it might look to New Hampshire for a blueprint. The Granite State has seen sharp declines in toxic air emissions — an 86 percent decline over five years — while industrial greenhouse gas emissions have tumbled 37 percent.

Why? Craig Wright, director of New Hampshire’s air resources division, points to four factors:

The Northeast has seen significantly reduced reliance on coal-fired electric generation, Wright said. He credits two forces: cheap natural gas, and the nine-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which limits how much carbon pollution power plants can emit. Plants buy “allowances,” or credits, to cover emissions. And money generated from the auctions goes toward clean energy programs.

In addition to federal standards, New Hampshire has an air toxin control program that regulates the emission of over 600 toxic compounds, based on health standards. “Through the years, that’s had an impact on toxic emissions,” Wright said. “Some folks couldn’t meet those standards, so they needed to reduce pollutants or change to other compounds.”

New Hampshire developed regulations on volatile organic compounds — which can combine with nitrogen oxides to create harmful ground-level ozone — to meet federal ozone pollution standards. The move also helped reduce toxic air pollutants, he said.

New Hampshire saw some industries shut down, primarily large pulp and paper mills, beginning in the 1990s. Industry experts blame cheap imports and declining demand for paper products. Some businesses and elected officials point to high electricity prices in New England.

Ten Iowa facilities among top 500 sources of greenhouse gases in U.S.

Iowa's top 10 producers of greenhouse gases, which most scientists say contribute to global warming, are among the nation's 500 largest sources of such gases produced by utilities, manufacturing and other industrial facilities, according to the most recent available data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Iowa’s top 10 producers of emissions, toxic chemicals

The top 10 companies in Iowa producing airborne chemicals listed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as toxins account for just over half of the 22.7 million pounds of such emissions released statewide in 2014.